The River Connection

"The River Connection" is a 60-foot-long exhibit filled with aerial map images, photographs and graphics illuminating the Missouri River, from Yankton, South Dakota, through Sioux City and on to the Omaha area.

The exhibit reveals former channels of the Missouri known as "meander scars." Visitors can see places where the river once flowed along Interstate 29 before dams and channelization altered it.

Wildlife and geologic features figure into the story that seeks to stir interest in the river as a conduit for encounters, both natural and social.

The river provides hydroelectricity for power, water for agricultural needs, and recreational opportunities for fishing and boating enthusiasts. It sustains a dazzling array of wildlife with species that have relatives dating back to the dinosaurs. It hosts the first people of this land as well as all those who have come since.

Between Gavin's Point Dam in southeast South Dakota and Ponca State Park in northeast Nebraska, the river remains dynamic, with islands, sandbars and backwater areas. Its braided streams still hold obstacles much like those encountered by Native people, explorers and settlers.

The Missouri River begins in the Rocky Mountains at the confluence of the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin Rivers near Three Forks, Montana. Its mouth is near St. Louis where it enters the Mississippi River. In this span the river undergoes many changes: the upper-section reservoirs; the middle section with natural flowing recreational areas; and the lower channelized section.

At 2,341 miles long, it exceeds even the Mississippi River in length. It feeds dozens of tributaries, including the James, Big Sioux, Floyd and Little Sioux rivers. It remains an important site of encounter for this region and for a large part of the United States.